The long periods of isolation in remote areas of the Queensland bush
often had tragic consequences for emigrants from crowded overpopulated Europe.
Madness and fits of violence were not uncommon.
In 1870, a German man named John
Alexander Herrlich, a native of Frankfurt-on-Maine, was living by himself in
the Cedar Scrub, about ten miles from Toowoomba. He was a cabinet maker by
trade and about 58 years of age. In the scrub, he made his living as a hunter,
timber-getter, and sometime gold prospector. He had lived alone for several
years and was a competent bushman.
In February 1870, a report
reached Toowoomba that Herrlich had shot dead a local farmer, Michael Klein, a fellow
German.
Highfields road with Cedar Scrub in the background
The Brisbane Courier reported[1]:
WE understand that the Police authorities have received a
report from Police-sergeant Kean, of Toowoomba, respecting the shooting of
Michael Klein on Saturday last. The facts, so far as they have been ascertained,
are as follows: -
Old Bushman outside his Hut
Klein was a German farmer, residing about eight miles from
Toowoomba, on the Highfields-road, near Perseverance station. Another German, J.
A. Herrlich, has resided at the cedar scrub, some distance away, for the last
four years, living in a hut by himself, and getting his living mostly with his
gun. He always carried a double-barrelled gun and pistols about with him.
It seems there was a
long-standing disagreement between Herrlich and Klein over who had the right to
take cedar[2]
logs from the scrub.
On the 11th of December Herrlich wrote a letter,
addressed from the scrub, to Mr. Turner, of Helidon, informing him that Klein
was stealing and killing his cattle. On Saturday last Klein went to the scrub
for cedar, which Herrlich claimed as his, and he told Klein that if he touched
the timber he would shoot him.
Klein did not desist, and thereupon Herrlich,
when only a few feet distant, fired, the contents of the gun entering the
breast, blowing away the top of the heart, and going out at the back. No trace
of bullet or shot can be found. Death was instantaneous.
Police Station Toowoomba
The police travelled immediately
to the scene of the homicide but there was no trace of Herrlich.
The Police Magistrate and constables endeavoured to pick
up the tracks of the murderer, but without success. The doctor and constable
McCaffery returned to Toowoomba on Sunday morning. It is pretty certain that
Herrlich is hiding in the scrub, and a systematic search with trackers has been
commenced.
Queensland Mounted Colonial Police Leaving on Patrol
Two months later Herrlich had
still not been sighted. The Cedar Scrub was extremely difficult terrain in
which to conduct the search. The correspondent from The Queenslander described the lay of the land[3]:
Timber Getters' Track
Only those who have seen the cedar scrub at Highfields,
and have had to traverse it, can possibly form any conception of its density
and its precipitous rocks and ranges, as well as numerous gullies intersecting
it in almost every direction. Besides these formidable barriers, gigantic vines
lace the forest trees with an almost impenetrable kind of net-work that at
nearly every step must be cut through with the tomahawk or hatchet. Equestrians
can make no progress through it all, and even pedestrians have frequently to
crawl on their hands and knees to make headway.
Then there was the considerable
population of German settlers in the district who tended to look after their
own.
Unfortunately for the ends of justice, considerable
sympathy is still being shown towards Herrlich by some of his countrymen, and a
few of them, it is rumoured, furnish him with supplies. It is net to be
wondered at, therefore, that the fugitive, who has for many years lived in the
scrub, should, under all these combined circumstances, be able to so long
successfully baffle his pursuers.
The Farms of German Settlers in the Toowoomba District
In the end it was Herrlich
himself who gave himself up, wearied from the deprivations of life as a wanted man..[4]
Yesterday, Herrlich, the murderer of Michael Klein at the
Cedar Scrub some time ago, sent a messenger to a man named Murray, who is
staying at the Queen's Arms Hotel, Toowoomba, to the effect that he wished to
give himself up, and desired Murray to come and arrest him and secure the
reward.
A Country Hotel
Murray talked a great deal of what he was going to do,
and the police heard of it, and followed him so closely that they entered the
house where Murray and Herrlich were conversing, and arrested Herrlich at once.
The house where he was arrested belongs to a man named
Kahler, and is about fifteen miles from Toowoomba.
The police not only arrested the
fugitive, but also took Murray and Kahler, the German farmer, into custody on a
charge of harbouring Herrlich.
It came to light that Murray had
become friendly with the bushman Herrlich during his temporary residence at the
Queen's Arms Hotel some time before.
Murray had frequently assisted him with advice in many
matters of business connected with the sale of timber procured by Herrlich in
the scrub. Murray's version of the surrender is, that about 12 o'clock, on
Friday morning, a German farmer named Heinrich Kahler came to his lodgings and
told him that he had a message from Herrlich to the effect that he desired
Murray to go out to him that day, as he wished to give himself up to a friend
that would bring him into Toowoomba unfettered.
Murray, for some unexplained reason,
neglected to give any information to the police, but started for High Fields in
company with Kahler about 5 o'clock in the afternoon, taking a bottle of brandy
with them as a "comforter."
Colonial Farm House and Barn
Arriving at Kahler’s house with
the “comforter”, Murray is reunited with his German friend, who looks the worst
for wear.
Herrlich, on seeing Murray, rushed forward, exclaiming,
"Good God, Mr Murray, I am so glad to see you, if you had not come out to
night I should have been a dead man tomorrow morning, I am starved and hungered
to death, can you give me some food?"
He then related his sufferings and privations in the
bush, and said he had seen the police on several occasions, and once when he
had been to the creek for water they passed within five yards of his hiding
place, where he waited to see if the blackfellow would take up the tracks.
He denied that he
had shot Klein deliberately, but that in the struggle for the possession of the
rifle the trigger was accidentally struck, and the charge entered Klein's breast,
his hands being so close to his antagonist at the time of the discharge that
the blood "spouted out” over his wrists and coat sleeves, and ran down
upon his trousers. After the black boy ran away, he went down to the creek,
washed the blood from his hands, and rubbed some clay over the stains upon his
trousers.
Later that evening the police
suddenly appeared on Kahler’s verandah.
Letter to the Brisbane Courier complaining about
the standard of German in a wanted poster.
Kahler went outside, and some person on the verandah
said, "have you any strangers here?'' Kahler replying, "No, only my
wife." The party then answered, "we must see who you have
inside," and Sergeant McCarthy, acting-sergeant Shea, Constable Quinn, and
a black tracker entered the house. McCarthy and Shea immediately identified
Herrlich, and covered him with their rifles, Murray at the same time stating
that Herrlich was his prisoner, and had surrendered himself some time
previously.
Taking their prisoner into
Toowoomba, the police involved in the long were interest to know just how close
they had come to Herrlich in the scrub.
The constable then
asked whether he had ever seen the police, and he replied, "Yes, I saw you
on St. Patrick's Day in the scrub, at a distance of about twenty yards from
where you passed. I was lying behind a
tree." The Acting Sergeant then said, "Did you see us on the high
ridge near the saw pit, because I met with your tracks in the fern?" But
he (Herrlich) could not remember that he had seen them on that occasion.
Herrlich was finally brought for
trial in August that year. There was
much discussion as to whether the gun was accidently discharged or not. The
evidence leaned heavily on the testimony an aboriginal boy with the curious
name Epple. The boy, who worked for Klein, was the only other person at the
scene of the murder. Herrlich was defended by a lawyer named Blake.
Mr. Blake then addressed the jury for the prisoner
Herrlich. It appeared that Klein and Epple had gone out with other persons to
obtain cedar from the scrub, and no doubt they went to get Herrlich's. The
evidence of Mr. Murphy went to show that this was a very common practice, and
they could then easily conceive that the prisoner being a foreigner and liable
to sudden and impulsive passions, might in the heat of the moment make use of
the expression, "If you take any more of my cedar I will shoot you
dead."
It was easy to suppose that the gun was discharged
accidentally, more particularly as it appeared from the evidence of Epple that
the gun was held loosely in the prisoner's left hand, and not in the manner
usually adopted by a person when firing. The boy had told them that he was
standing some distance behind Klein, and the natural inference was that when
the prisoner slung round the gun Klein caught hold of the barrel, and the lock
becoming entangled in the swag which the prisoner carried on his right
shoulder, the discharge was accidental.
A Courtroom of theTime
If they came to the conclusion that the death of the
unfortunate man was the result of a deliberate intention to kill on the part of
the prisoner, they would give a full vindication of the law; but if the case
was not fully established, so as to admit of two constructions and throw such
doubts upon their minds that they felt any difficulty in arriving at a
conclusion, they would give the prisoner the benefit of that doubt, and return
a verdict of not guilty.
Summing up, the judge gave the
jury three options. If they decided that the killing was premeditated, they
should find the accused guilty. If it was accidental, they should find him not
guilty. If they found that the gun fired by the prisoner in the sudden heat of
passion they would find the prisoner guilty of the lesser crime of manslaughter.
The jury delivered a verdict of
guilty of manslaughter. Herrlich rose
and spoke to the judge.
Judge Blakeney
Herrlich, then addressing His Honour, said: You are the
minister of the law, and I submit myself to its sentence; but if the boy Epple
had told the whole of the truth, he would have said that I warned Klein to go
back three or four times. If he had done this I should not stand in the dock
today. I have nothing more to say, and now submit myself to the sentence you
may wish to pass upon me, and also to the will of God.
His Honour said the jury had taken the most favourable
view of the case, but in passing sentence he could not but consider that the
crime of which he had been found guilty was of a very serious character and
demanded a very serious sentence. The sentence of the Court was that he, John
Alexander Herrlich, be kept in penal servitude for the term of fifteen years.
© K. C. Sbeghen, 2011.
The long periods of isolation in remote areas of the Queensland bush
often had tragic consequences for emigrants from crowded overpopulated Europe.
Madness and fits of violence were not uncommon.
 |
| Highfields road with Cedar Scrub in the background |
 |
| Old Bushman outside his Hut |
Klein did not desist, and thereupon Herrlich,
when only a few feet distant, fired, the contents of the gun entering the
breast, blowing away the top of the heart, and going out at the back. No trace
of bullet or shot can be found. Death was instantaneous.
 |
| Police Station Toowoomba |
The Police Magistrate and constables endeavoured to pick
up the tracks of the murderer, but without success. The doctor and constable
McCaffery returned to Toowoomba on Sunday morning. It is pretty certain that
Herrlich is hiding in the scrub, and a systematic search with trackers has been
commenced.
 |
| Queensland Mounted Colonial Police Leaving on Patrol |
 |
| Timber Getters' Track |
Unfortunately for the ends of justice, considerable
sympathy is still being shown towards Herrlich by some of his countrymen, and a
few of them, it is rumoured, furnish him with supplies. It is net to be
wondered at, therefore, that the fugitive, who has for many years lived in the
scrub, should, under all these combined circumstances, be able to so long
successfully baffle his pursuers.
 |
| The Farms of German Settlers in the Toowoomba District |
 |
| A Country Hotel |
 |
| Colonial Farm House and Barn |
He denied that he
had shot Klein deliberately, but that in the struggle for the possession of the
rifle the trigger was accidentally struck, and the charge entered Klein's breast,
his hands being so close to his antagonist at the time of the discharge that
the blood "spouted out” over his wrists and coat sleeves, and ran down
upon his trousers. After the black boy ran away, he went down to the creek,
washed the blood from his hands, and rubbed some clay over the stains upon his
trousers.
 |
| Letter to the Brisbane Courier complaining about the standard of German in a wanted poster. |
Mr. Blake then addressed the jury for the prisoner
Herrlich. It appeared that Klein and Epple had gone out with other persons to
obtain cedar from the scrub, and no doubt they went to get Herrlich's. The
evidence of Mr. Murphy went to show that this was a very common practice, and
they could then easily conceive that the prisoner being a foreigner and liable
to sudden and impulsive passions, might in the heat of the moment make use of
the expression, "If you take any more of my cedar I will shoot you
dead."
 |
| A Courtroom of theTime |
 |
| Judge Blakeney |
